The first police officer on the scene when toddler William Tyrrell vanished from his grandmother's home on the NSW mid north coast has detailed the desperate search for the missing child and the focus on the man across the road.
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Senior Constable Christopher Rowley from Laurieton police station arrived at the family house in Benaroon Drive, Kendall, six minutes after a call was lodged with police to report that a child could not be found, newly released coronial documents show.
A statement given to police on September 15, 2014, three days after William vanished, said that Senior Constable Rowley and his fellow officers were initially drawn to "the family situation".
William and his sister were removed from their biological parents when he was less than a year old, becoming wards of the state. They were placed into foster care.
Plans were afoot for the two children to be adopted by the foster family with whom they had lived since William was eight months old and with whom their biological mother was "not happy", an inquest heard in April.
"If I took him, I would be gone and I would have [my daughter] as well," the mother told the inquest.
Investigators hunting for the missing child were quick to look at the child protection registry, which officers believed did not have anyone from the sleepy town of Kendall on it, the statement said.
Police also searched the home of one neighbour, who cannot be named, three times in a period of less than 24 hours.
"We saw a wooden box had been fabricated ... over what we thought would be a window," Senior Constable Rowley's statement reads.
"I saw his television on ... Sky News active with the scrolling story of the missing child William Tyrrell on the screen (it did not move and obviously had been selected)," it continued.
"I asked if I could see his hands and they were spotlessly clean ... I asked if he would mind removing his shirt and he did so and there was nothing on his body worth noting."
Despite the country's biggest manhunt, nobody has ever been charged over the disappearance and presumed death of the little boy in the Spider-Man suit.
After being sensationally stood down from the case earlier this year, the officer in charge Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin resigned from the NSW Police Force last week.
Professional Standards officers have investigated claims of bullying and harassment and if the detective illegally used his mobile phone to record a conversation.
The Herald understands that Chief Inspector Jubelin, who was involved in a number of high-profile investigations, including the Bowraville killings, the brutal killing of Michelle Leng and the death of mentally ill Sydney woman Courtney Topic, remains at the homicide squad's Parramatta headquarters as he serves his notice period.
No further action has been taken against Chief Inspector Jubelin, and in March he "strenuously denied" any wrongdoing.
An inquest into the disappearance and suspected death of the toddler will return to the Coroners Court in August, with homicide veteran Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw now in charge of the police investigation.
